“From a workingclass family,” I completed for her, “from a mother who broke her back to give him everything.”
Michael finally spoke. “Mom, don’t take it like that. They’re just trying to—”
“Trying to what, Michael?” I interrupted, looking directly at him. “Erase me. Make me disappear because I don’t fit into their perfect world.”
He looked down. “It’s not that. It’s just that things are different now. We have to think about our future, about Chloe.”
“We can’t. You can’t have a poor mother ruining your image,” I finished the sentence for him.
Marlene’s father tapped the table gently with his hand. “Come on. Come on. No need to be dramatic. No one is saying you should disappear. Just that you be more mindful. That you understand your position in this new family dynamic.”
My position.
That word echoed in my head. My position. As if I were an employee who needed to remember her rank. As if I were a movable piece on a board they controlled.